


Heavenly Creatures

by bmouse



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Day At The Beach, F/F, Genderswap, Rule 63, brief background mention of MuraHimu because I can't help myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 18:58:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11720490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmouse/pseuds/bmouse
Summary: Kuroko just wants a romantic beach weekend with her girlfriend. Surfing and unicorns ensue.





	Heavenly Creatures

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Sorry this exchange fic is a day late because I was stuck without internet for part of Friday, also this fic just kept getting longer on me. >__>  
> I really hope you like it!
> 
> Takes place in a Rule 63 universe where the GOM and Kagami and Himuro are all girls. Everything else about canon is pretty much the same though! 
> 
> (Except for the Extra Game movie ending nonsense... we don't talk about that.)

Kuroko glanced up and away from her book. A distinct tapping had started to become clear over the rattling of the train. It was accompanied by a series of unladylike snorts.

"Kagami-kun, are you stalking your sister on Instagram again?"

"Gawd, what the heck does Tatsu-nee see in that overgrown swamp monster? She could have literally any guy she wants and instead she's joined at the hip with the Creature From The Purple Lagoon! I mean, look at this-”

Kagami-kun’s much-dropped and currently somewhat duct-taped phone was promptly thrust in her face. On-screen was a well-posed picture of Himuro-san throwing up a peace sign as she lay on a familiar double-sized futon. Half of her hair was intricately french-braided with that of her girlfriend, who was presumably sleeping the sleep of the just, slightly out-of-frame. The effect of the black-and-purple together was very aesthetically pleasing. 

The caption read: `Bae can’t do her hair since she broke her wrist, so I’m helping~~ ;) `

Kuroko had to acknowledge Himuro-san's braiding skills. And photo posing skills. And filter picking skills. Himuro-san really was exceptional at all the feminine things her younger sister despaired of, and yet Kuroko wouldn’t trade Kagami-kun for any amount of sophisticated gloss.

"I mean, OK, Murasakibara's got nice hair. I'll give her that. And she can bake. But Tatsu-nee doesn't even like sweets! She's always doing paleo diets and 30 day shreds and whatever." 

"Love works in mysterious ways, Kagami-kun."

"Pfff. I'll say."

Kuroko suspected that Kagami-kun was probably loath to give up the crown of 'Most muscular girl in the family' which seemed like it was more and more likely to happen. Alex-san had started teasingly referring to Murasakibara-chan as ‘lazy daughter-in-law.’ 

Kuroko was both pleased and relieved that she only got the standard ‘daughter-in-law.’

She also understood that Kagami-kun's Instagram stalking was just a way for her to try and contain her eagerness. Kuroko had a book open in her lap herself, but truthfully she had been having a hard time paying attention to it.

Her first official summer weekend trip with her girlfriend! It was hardly to be believed. Kuroko was trying to be reasonable about her expectations - this past winter she had soundly defeated and then re-befriended her demons, she had won not only respect for her basketball and the champion’s trophy but the affectionate heart of her Light. Honestly, what could compare to last year? But then there were exams and the new school year and first-years and the Inter-high and then those horribly rude steroid-ridden American girls to send packing. 

All of that hadn’t left for enough time to, well, do something more traditionally romantic than a few burger dates at Maji and falling asleep at the breakfast counter of Kagami-kun’s apartment and then having her partner carry her to bed. Kuroko had found herself greedily wanting more.

“We should be there in half an hour.” 

“Allright! And hey, the weather app says there’ll be waves! Man, I can’t wait!” 

Ah, waves. Kuroko would have preferred to lounge on the sand for a bit, but this should also work in her favor. There was something she had been meaning to do, after all.

"I haven't had time to update my account, recently." she said, changing the subject.

Kuroko had deleted everything after she quit the basketball club in her last year of middle school. Her Instagram, her Facebook, every chat app. She had even changed her phone number. In her despairing state she had erased even her digital presence. Her first Instagram account with her old, shaky post-basketball-practice selfies captioned 'I only threw up once running laps today, so I believe I am making progress!' was now lost in the digital fire.

But her new account had pictures of her dog and her team and a lot of candid shots of Kagami-kun’s endearingly-fanged unselfconsciously-wide smile.

“Oh man, me too…Mine’s super-dead. Just pictures of stir-fry.”

"I'd like to take some photos on this trip. Of the two of us."

"...Yeah." Kagami-kun said.

Kuroko did not have to look up from her phone to see her blush.

\----

An hour later they’d stowed their bags in the public beach lockers and Kagami-kun kicked open the stall of her changing room, revealing a typically tomboy-ish ensemble of board shorts and a waterproof sports bra that struggled with, but nevertheless contained, the DD cups she had somehow inherited from Alex-san(completely bypassing the workings of actual human DNA).

"I, errr kinda forgot the school swimsuit and then the only other thing was this totally ridiculous bikini that Alex left for me last time she was over. No way I'm wearing that!"

Kuroko exhaled. She was simultaneously disappointed and a little relieved. If she had to deal with wet Kagami-kun in some decadent American number at the same time as she was trying a new sport she would surely drown.

Kagami-kun, slightly hyperfocused as she was, almost didn’t notice Kuroko following her to the board rental kiosk in her own sensible one-piece.

“Huh?” she said, when she finally noticed.

"I am calling in my due." Kuroko said solemnly.

Kagami-kun blushed beet red. "What, here?! There’s people an’ everything!" 

Kuroko had to smile at that. "No, not that one. Remember last year you said you would teach me how to surf?" 

“Hell yeah! OK trust me you’re gonna love it.” Kagami-kun promptly selected two foam-topped longboards and, hefting one under each arm in her enthusiasm, dragged them to the front. “I want these two! ...Errr, please!”

The bored-looking twentysomething guy manning the rental desk looked up from his phone and did a bit of a double take. 

“Ugh, girls should use cuter pronouns, shouldn't they? Seriously, high schoolers are too much these days...” he muttered, well under his breath. Kagami-kun was 10cm taller and could probably bench-press him, after all.

“Please forgive her, she’s half-American.” Kuroko said politely. From right behind him. 

Shrieking, he dropped his phone, knocked over his can of soda and sent a stack of disclaimer forms tumbling dramatically to the ground. A few people behind them in the rental line snickered.

“My apologies for startling you.” Kuroko said in her best monotone. 

Kagami-kun muffled a snort with her hand. Sufficiently cowed, the guy quickly time-stamped their forms and waved them away.

“What the heck is so wrong with a girl using ‘ore’ anyway?!” Kagami-kun sighed, fastening her board leash around her left ankle. “Alex uses ‘ore’ when she speaks Japanese...”

“I’m afraid it’s still controversial. But Kagami-kun should use whatever she’s comfortable with. Society should move with the times.” 

Staring down the ocean, Kuroko gripped her new board and spread her toes in an approximation of her Ignite Pass Kai stance. The waves would surely be larger up close... But she was prepared. The last time they were by the sea, at a Seirin training camp, it had been thrilling to watch Kagami-kun balance on top of a wave from her towel on the shore, but there had been a feeling of longing there too. Kuroko wanted this to be something they could to together.

Anyway she didn’t have time to get too introspective. Crowing triumphantly Kagami-kun tossed her flip-flops next to their towel, grabbed Kuroko by the hand and dragged her in into the surf.

\----

Really, Kagami-kun was too amazing. Though she scoffed at labels like 'genius' she had a natural athleticism that made balancing on a large man-made stick while at the mercy of hydrodynamics look easy. After an hour of trying, Kuroko was having a much less graceful time of it. 

"Damn, it's like the waves can't even see you! You could even call it Aquatic Misdirection-” Kagami-kun joked, slapping her knee after she had paddled back out to Kuroko.

Kuroko took one look at her girlfriend - effortlessly straddling her board, her wild short hair ruffled by the breeze, looking like some kind vintage surf-rock album cover - and then Kuroko mercilessly splashed her.

\---

But then, a few minutes later ocean apparently decided to meet her halfway. 

The crest of the wave broke behind her but the rushing wall of whitewater picked up Kuroko’s board and sent it forward, carrying her along. It was, simply speaking, amazing. She was in control but not in control, rocketing forward, kneeling on the board, watching the water part in front of her, Kagami-kun shouting ‘Whooooo! You got it, now stand up!” at the top of her lungs somewhere over her shoulder.

Wobbling, Kuroko stood up. 

For a moment she could see everything, the entire beach was spread out below her feet. She felt powerful and powerless, like some greater force was using her as a conduit, working through her. It was perhaps, like being in a small pocket of the Zone. And just as she had that thought the wave hit another set of shallows, twisting beneath her, and Kuroko overbalanced and fell off.

"Well, at least with my Aquatic Misdirection I am fairly confident that no one saw wipe out." she said to Kagami-kun as soon as she’d swum up to her to make sure she was all-right. 

"Are you kidding me? You stood up on your first day! It took me, like, _a week_ to get that far. A little more practice and you're gonna be great!" 

Cheered by this, Kuroko even let her girlfriend get away with two celebratory hair-ruffles and a headlock before she splashed her again. 

Coming back ashore another half-hour and three waves later, Kuroko couldn't help but notice that the two of them had started a trend: there were a lot more girls crowding the surfboard rental kiosk for the afternoon shift. 

The front-desk guy looked as though he had eaten one of Coach’s unsliced honey lemons.

The two of them went back to the towel. Kuroko set up the beach umbrella. Kagami-kun promptly devoured her habitual 80% share of their large bento box (boiled eggs still featured heavily in Kuroko's section but she had at least learned how to make deviled eggs, so at least she was expanding her repertoire). Then, after a few innocently hedonistic stretches-and-wiggles on the towel (the sports bra was having a much harder time now that it was wet) Kagami-kun fell dead asleep. Kuroko tilted the umbrella to give them some privacy and subtly moved Kagami-kun’s head to rest her knees next to her book, letting her fingers linger in the red hair.

Romance: debatably achieved. 

\----

"Dammit, I thought it would be fine!" Kagami kun muttered the next morning, peering sadly over the remnants of her sports bra. The stitching had torn on the side and overnight the gap had widened to indecent proportions.

“You _do_ have a backup swimsuit.” said Kuroko in innocent monotone, popping out from behind her shoulder.

“No way! I told you, it’s embarrassing...”

"I am hardly going to judge" _In fact, I am going to appreciate,_ she privately thought. 

But Kagami-kun was not in a mood to be moved by gentle suggestion. She had a pig-headed slant to her chin and had started angrily muttering about going down the street to buy a sewing kit to mend the tear.

Kuroko calmly went into the bedroom of the little beachside apartment that she had secured for their weekend (a long-standing called-in favor from Kise-kun), packed up her beach towel, the novelty float she had gotten as a birthday present from her mother, an emergency-backup book (she had finished the first book yesterday - Kagami-kun had been too cute to move) and one more item - a packet wrapped in white tissue paper and then she opened the door. 

It was time to apply some direct leverage.

“Actually, I’ve also brought a backup swimsuit, and if Kagami-kun wants to see it she can meet me at the beach in 10 minutes.”

“Kuroko you jerk, that’s not fair! I wanna see it!” came a plaintive cry as Kuroko was smugly making her way down the stairs.

Phase A: complete.

Phase B, she had a little trouble with. 

The thing was that the mystery item, aka. the swimsuit that Kuroko had bought herself after weeks of hard sacrifice and foregoing her post-practice large vanilla milkshakes could also theoretically be described as… embarrassing. It was an ivory-white two-piece. Lace and ribbons and a few glittering bits of applique were involved. 

It was, for a girl who wore ties and button-down shirts and had ‘this really fresh, cool androgynous vibe Kurokochiii~~’, as per Kise-kun, maybe a little too feminine, a little too eye-catching. But no, she was trying to move out of her comfort zone. Kuroko had even let her hair grow this summer, out of her usual chin-length bob. The effect was a little mixed since her hair still got spiky on top and the ends waved a little, but Kagami-kun had told her “-you look like that Final Fantasy chick, you know? The really badass one? With the plate armor?” 

Kuroko could roll with that.

Squaring her chin she finished adjusting the back straps, took a breath and stepped out of the changing room, making her way down the boardwalk to the air station to inflate her float. 

_Ah, so I've found a whole other way to break my Misdirection._ She thought, a minute later.

The observable results were obvious. People’s eyes brushed over her and then _stayed_ on her. As she walked by a trio of girls turned around like they got whiplash. A boy dropped his ice cream cone.

Someone wolf whistled.

_I suppose I could turn around and punch them._ Kuroko thought. But the swimsuit top had probably not been made with uppercuts in mind.

Halfway to the air station another boy had approached her, twiddling his fingers together in an endearing fashion that reminded her of Furihata-kun. This helped ensure that he remained un-punched.

"Um... you've very tall, for a girl." he said.

“Thank you.” Kuroko said solemnly. “Luckily my basketball teammates informed me of this fact, or else I would have never noticed.”

He didn’t seemed to have anything else to say, so she kept walking.

In the time it took to fill up the novelty winged unicorn float, much to her annoyance, Kuroko had amassed a small crowd of onlookers, many of them that same species of awkwardly-shuffling boys.

"Holy shit, are you a mermaid princess. Do you need a prince?" ventured a more-confident looking one at the front. 

_Wow. An awful pickup line. Just what I’ve always wanted._

Kuroko slowly slid her sunglasses from the top of her head onto her nose. It always looked cool in movies, and really she'd always wanted to do this sort of thing. 

"Yes, I am.” she said. “And now I'm afraid my kingdom needs me." 

Without looking back at the pack of boys she flourished the float, dropped her beach bag on the sand, walked into the surf and kicked off.

Ahhh, that was better. Certainly quieter and more comfortable. At least in the commotion she had forgotten to feel self-conscious about her new swimsuit. Sighing, Kuroko lay back, sunglasses perched on her nose and let the sun soak into her usually-covered midriff.

_Sorry Kagami-kun, but at least I should be easy to spot from here..._

She drifted, eyes shut, dozing almost until a rumble overhead forced her to raise her head. 

_Ah, I may have done something slightly foolish._

The float was very comfortable to sit atop but it was unwieldy and hard to control. The current was sweeping her north along the shore. A patch of the sky was darkening overhead. The waves were rising.

_I suppose my moment of looking cool is over._ Kuroko sighed, preparing to jump off and tow the float ashore.

“Oiiiiii!” 

She turned and saw Kagami-kun swimming toward her, her head bobbing efficiently through her breaststroke. 

“Kagami-kun!” she cried, happily.

“Seriously, you’re too far out! And the waves are acting up. And -” 

Kagami-kun seemed to finally notice what Kuroko was wearing and blushed immediately “And ummm, wow. Holy crap, you look amazing!’

“Thank you for swiftly coming to my rescue.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I can’t believe you made me run in this thing. Let’s get the float to shore.” 

With Kagami-kun pushing and kicking it with her legs from behind Kuroko and the unicorn were safely returned to shallower waters. 

“This _is_ a two-person float” Kuroko said, extending a hand down.

“You really want to see it that badly, huh?” Kagami-kun took her hand and climbed up into the flattened ‘body’ of the unicorn.

Kuroko looked her up and down. 

“Nevermind, please go back into the water before I die of nosebleed.”

Alex-san’s embarrassing gift bikini turned out to be black and brief and full of... straps. Two of them criss-crossed over Kagami-kun’s abs in a way that make Kuroko’s fingers itch.

“Ha, no way!” Kagami-kun stuck out her tongue. “It’s a good view up here. And you’re nice and warm and I need a reward from saving poor Unicorn-chan from being swept out to sea.” She threw her wet arms around dry Kuroko, who abandoned herself to the joys of marshmallow hell and only squealed a little at the temperature difference.

They sat on the float, the occasional rolling wave forcing them closer together, Kagami-kun taking her chance to rest her chin in her favorite spot at the top of Kuroko’s head. Even the weather seemed to be improving, the patch of dark cloud wisely decided not to interrupt Kuroko’s date and move off elsewhere.

Later, just as she was beginning to feel the initial tingle of sunburn across her shoulders Kuroko saw it, rising on the horizon - a swell in the ocean, the beginnings of a prime wave.

“Kagami-kun, we should jump off.”

Kagami-kun gave it a considering glance and turned back to her. 

“Hey, do you trust me? This could either end up being cool as hell or...”

Kuroko got the idea.

“Let’s go for it.” 

Leaning forward they began to paddle in sync moving the float over the crest of the wave. It caught the float, Kuroko felt it again that partial-Zone feeling. Kagami-kun gripped her around the middle and gripped the handle on the float with the other hand. Sea spray dusted their cheeks. The inflatable wings almost seemed like they were flapping as the water carried them forward.

By some miracle, they did not flip over. Instead, after riding out the crest, the float rolled calmly to the shore and hit the sand, Kagami-kun laughing and whooping, Kuroko happily squished against her chest.

Standing in the shallows Kuroko finally gave in to temptation, and, angling the big body of the foat to shield them from the people on the beach, snuck a single, salt-flavored kiss. 

\----

In the end, one of those ‘believe it or not!’ local-sights-aggregate blogs had ended up with a picture of the two of them catching the wave. "Etherial Mermaid Princess and Red-Hot Mega-Babe seen surfing on a unicorn" was the blog post title.

It was, on one level, quite embarrassing, but mostly Kuroko was practical enough to be glad that someone had captured the memory.

Naturally, she printed the picture out and put it in her gym locker. 

A copy also ended up on her new Instagram account. Kuroko only had maybe 20-30 followers, but they were the ones that counted.

‘Hello everyone,’ she had typed underneath ‘As you can see, I have had a rather eventful summer break.’

Somehow(truthfully, she blames Himuro-san for the reblog), the post gets over 11,000 likes.

~


End file.
